Sirius Black was in a bad mood. He sat with Lily Evans dabbing at a huge black eye he had, courtesy of his latest attempt to talk to Amelia. Every time he went near her, she responded with a snide comment or in this case, a nasty spell. It wouldn’t be quite so bad if Lily wasn’t enjoying herself so much. James and Remus would have helped her, but they could barely stand for laughing. Other than Sirius’ attempts to chase after Amelia, things had settled down. Hope (who was still oblivious to Sirius’ latest love) had found herself a new weekly boy-toy, Lily it seemed was finally over Jake and likewise Remus with Amelia. James still spent every opportunity he could flirting with Lily and, unbeknownst to almost everyone else, Jake and Hayley were having the time of their lives.

Speaking of opportunities, James’ birthday was coming up, which meant only one thing: a legendary party. Pretty much the entire year was invited, as well as many 6th years. James had snuck to Hogsmeade and had a vast supply of alcohol and snacks to keep everyone happy. It was going to be the party of the year and luckily, as he was head-boy, the teachers turned a blind eye (and ear) to any supposed party plans they heard about. Everyone was looking forward to it. For James, it was an opportunity to get Lily Evans drunk; for Jake and Hayley, a chance to spend some serious time alone; for Sirius and Remus, a chance to drown their sorrows and find some desperate girls to sleep with them. This appealed more to Sirius than Remus, but nevertheless, he was a guy. They all thought about the same thing.

The party was on the Saturday night. Sirius’ black eye incident was Wednesday night. Only three days to go until the party and Sirius had Lily Evans mocking him for a black eye.

“So Sirius, having fun with your failed attempts to woo my best friend?” Jake joked as he and Hayley entered the portrait.

“Oh shut up Hunt, it’s not as if you’ve got anyone chasing after you!” Sirius retorted. “Unless you count Hayley, she spends a lot of time licking your arse!”

They both knew he was joking so Hayley just flipped him off as James hurled a cushion at him.

“I’d rather she spent time with Jake than this elusive boyfriend of hers. At least I know he’s not banging her behind my back!” James retorted. Jake tried not to look at Hayley, knowing he’d be forced to laugh at James’ naivety.

“I’d never be so callous!” Jake replied.

“Right,” Lily interjected. “That’ll do you for now Sirius. Come on Hayley, let's go find Amy and Hope. You boys have fun!”

Jake noticed how reluctant she was to go off with Hayley but nevertheless, the girls bounded off out of the common room. He turned to see that the Marauders had the clearly bored looks on their faces that came right before someone suggested a prank.

“Anyone want to go humiliate Snape and Malfoy?” Jake roused them.

“Of course we do. We just wanted to see if you’d suggest it!” James replied, a fire in his eyes.

“Good, now that’s sorted, what’re we gonna do?” Sirius asked.

“Paint pellets? Fireworks?” Remus suggested.

Jake’s eyes lit up. “Fireworks with paint pellets inside!”

James looked at him as though he’d just devised a way to cheat in all their NEWTs. Sirius’ eyes lit up as he thought about it as Remus shook his head in an exasperated manner.

“What, none of you guys know a spell to make things go into other things? What have they been teaching you at this school?” Jake teased.

“Hunt, I always knew you were good. But now, I think I can say you are worthy of being my twin!”

“Why Potter, that was almost a compliment!”

Twenty minutes later and their plan was set. Luckily, they had Lily as bait, so whilst she drew out Snape, they aimed their fireworks. They also planted a viewing spell on the pellets, so they could watch the magic unfold. As soon as Snape opened the portrait to talk to Lily, they released six huge dragon fireworks, which sped through the open hole into the common room. Lily swore and dived for cover, as the four legged it. Lily was right behind them, but Snape had stayed behind to help his fellow Slytherins deal with the four dragons raging in their common room. The Marauders watched using their spell, as one by one the dragons exploded, showering all the Slytherins in paint of numerous colours, as well as the black ash that covered them. The Marauders, Lily and Jake roared with laughter as Lucius Malfoy growled, smothered in orange paint and black ash. He stormed out the common room to try and find those responsible, even though he already knew exactly who it was, but they were long gone, leaving a fuming Lucius to plot revenge…

Saturday night came quicker than anyone could have hoped for. The party kicked off at seven and was soon in full swing. Remus was relaxing by the armchair when Amelia came across to him, sipping a butterbeer. He gestured for her to sit and she obliged.

“Really Amelia? Butterbeer?” he yelled over the roar of the party. She nodded.

“I don’t particularly fancy getting off my face with so many vultures around. I’m quite an attractive young woman you know!” she teased.

“I noticed,” Remus muttered. “Drink some of this!”

Amelia took the bottle off him and sipped it. It was really strong and warmed her throat, making her feel slightly light headed. Remus went to take it back off her, but she drank some more. Alarmed, Remus went in to grab the drink but to his horror, Amelia was starting to down it. She glanced up at him as she threw away the empty bottle.

“Don’t worry about me Remus!” she mocked. “I can take my drink better than most.” She felt light-headed but otherwise fine. Sirius meanwhile, was attempting to chat up Lily whilst in a drunken stupor.

“Comme on Evanss!” he slurred. “Give us a kisss!”

“Fuck off Black!” she retorted, slightly drunk herself, but not drunk enough to try anything. “All I want to do is find my best friend Hope and give her a biiiiiiiig hug!”

James was struggling to keep control of the party, particularly as he’d had a lot to drink himself. Jake and Hayley had already escaped to her dorm to have a bit of fun on their own, whilst Hope’s mini-skirt was laid somewhere on the common room floor, its owner busy on a sofa somewhere. Amelia was drinking like a tank. Having downed two and a half bottles of firewhiskey and another three bottles of Remus’ mysterious drink, she was just about still sober. Remus was chasing after her, desperately making sure that no-one tried to take advantage.

Amelia finally met her match when it came to a bottle of Dragon-Liquor. She was completely off her face after about six of seven shots and as Remus desperately tried to drag her away from the main party, she kissed him. He pushed her off and dragged her away, but as soon as they were out of sight, she kissed him again. And this time he couldn’t help but kiss back. He’d also had a bit to drink but he wasn’t drunk and he felt bad, but at the same time, he knew that he might never get another chance. Spurred on by the fire in his veins, Remus let his passions flow as he and Amelia kissed passionately. They headed up to the boys dorm, him carrying her all the way up, their lips never parting as their tongues danced and flared. As reached the top, their kissing became a lot more sensuous, Remus clawing at her exposed flesh; her thighs as she was only wearing short shorts and her shoulders and stomach. He then tore off her tank top and ran his hands through her hair. Amelia did likewise, pulling off Remus’ shirt and rubbing her hands over his bare chest and neck. He kissed her ear and her neck, she moaned as he played with her, toyed with her. His hands felt for her chest and she did nothing to stop him, licking his chest and feeling his biceps. He was nowhere near as strong as Sirius but she was too out of it to care.

They fell back onto his bed, Remus ripping off her bra with his teeth as she fell underneath him. Her passion was gone, her energy deserting her, but still Remus pressed on, kissing and feeling her up. Amelia groaned more out of headache than sexual pleasure, but Remus didn’t notice. She still persisted though, slipping off his trousers, leaving him in his underwear. They slipped underneath the covers, engulfing the soft warm covers. Amelia tried to push him off as she slowly returned to her senses, but he just kissed her again. Amelia kissed him back, caught between a sense of delusion and pain. They disappeared under the covers, her passion gone but his only just reigniting.

“Stop!” she groaned. “Please Remus stop!”

Remus stopped kissing her, moving his hands away from her but she cuddled up to him. He held her in a light embrace as she lay there, tears of pain escaping her as the booze clawed at her system. Remus lay next to her, holding her almost naked body, pure and almost angelic. He felt like a filthy animal compared to her, she was too good for him. Remus was sickened by himself as they lay there, crying he knew she deserved better.

Jake stumbled up the steps to his dormitory. He’d not had a massive amount to drink and compared to some of the others, he was as sober as could be. He’d had an amazing night with Hayley and they’d tried out a whole new range of things, going further than ever before. She was still a virgin, but he didn’t mind; he was more than happy to wait until she was ready. When he’d headed up, the common room was a scene of mayhem. James and Sirius were both insanely drunk and fighting over Lily, who had passed out somewhere. Hope was in the middle of what could only be described as a take your turn on the slut session and there was no sign of Amelia or Remus. As he reached the dorm and headed inside, he noticed two lumps in Remus’ bed and smiled to himself.

“Congrats Remus, who’d you manage to get in bed?”

Remus jumped up and looked at Jake in horror as Amelia moaned beneath the covers.

“Jake?” she muttered.

Jake’s jaw dropped a mile. “Amelia?” he gasped. He threw back the covers to see his best friend, dressed only in short shorts with a bare top half, smashed out of her face in Remus Lupin’s bed. Jake felt a whole mix of emotions. Shock, sadness, dismay and anger were the big ones. Mainly shock and anger. He helped Amelia to her feet and then threw her into the shower in their ensuite. He turned the cold water on full and whilst she sobered up, he rounded on Remus. He grabbed him by the neck, hauled him out of bed (relieved to see he still had underwear on) and pinned him up against the wall, wand in hand.

“What the fuck did you do to her you little shit?” Jake growled, fury guiding his actions.

“We just…we just…I didn’t sleep with her I promise!” Remus cried, unable to break out of Jake’s lock. Jake slammed his fist into Remus’ gut, then his balls, then his face. He threw Remus to the floor and started kicking him, simultaneously running through the nastiest curses he knew. After a few minutes, Jake stopped, and picked Remus up. He was bloody and in pain.

“If you so much as lay a finger on her again Lupin, I swear to God you’re gonna wish you were never born!” Jake spat, the venom and white hot rage in his voice making Remus tremble. Usually Jake wasn’t a threatening guy, he wasn’t particularly strong or intimidating, but what Remus had done to Amelia had made him so angry he could barely contain himself. He hurled Remus back onto his bed muttering a few nasty curses and using all his self-control to avoid using the Cruciatus Curse. He headed into the bathroom and helped Amelia up. She was sobering up quickly so he grabbed her top and bra for her to put back on.

“You didn’t see any part of my body, right?” Amelia murmured.

“No, course not hun,” Jake lied gently. She didn’t need to know, it would only make her feel worse. He helped her to bed and then, before either of them could remember what was happening, they were fast asleep, side-by-side, just like old times.

The morning presented Amelia with one of her worst hangovers for a long time. And Sirius Black and James Potter peering over her lying in bed with her best friend. Great.

“Have fun last night you two?” James joked.

“I certainly did, I don’t know about Amelia,” Jake retorted as he sat up. “I found her in here off her face at gone midnight and there was no way she was getting back downstairs so I let her sleep in with me. Don’t tell me you’ve never shared a bed with your best friend before after a rough night?”

James and Sirius went slightly pale as if a bad memory was coming back to them. Jake grinned at their discomfort. Remus groaned as he sat up and Sirius and James gasped. Remus’ bare chest and face were covered in cuts and bruises. He had an assortment of injuries and as he sat up, he coughed blood. Jake shot him a warning look as his two best friends asked him what had happened.

“I don’t quite remember. Must’ve got into a fight with someone or something. Don’t worry about it! Anyway, what happened to you two?” Remus retorted, looking at his best friends’ own raggedy injuries.

“They were fighting over Lily,” Jake interjected. “Who won lads?”

“I did!” they both replied at the same time. Jake rolled his eyes. “Let’s get the three of you off to the hospital wing then. Come on Amy.”

The Marauders headed out and Jake went to follow but Amelia grabbed his arm.

“Jake, thank you so much for last night. You saved me from so much humiliation if they’d caught me.”

“Don’t worry Amy. I love you and I can’t bear see you get hurt.”

“Yeah. But listen you can’t tell anyone, especially not Sirius!”

“Why not?”

“Because I think he really loves me and I’m going to give him the chance to prove it.”